What is Washboard Express?

Washboard Express is a way for me to express my own opinions, to be a provocative gadfly, by writing a "letter a day" to the President. I may miss a day here and there, because sometimes my family with be my first priority, but my goal is to write a total of 365 letters, representing one full year. To say I have opinions about most things would be to understate the obvious. Those of you that know me, know this is true, those who don't know me, will learn that it's true. The Washboard is a reference to going back to basics and "keeping it clean," so if you would like me to post your comments or opinions on this blog, I only ask that you be respectful. So go ahead, express yourself, and I look forward to an exchange of ideas and opinions.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Day18... Dear Mr. President... We all survived, now lets move on.

Day 18

Dear Mr. President,

Today is Sunday the 22nd and from all accounts we survived yet another doomsday prediction. I’m sure the spin for the failure to “rapture” believers in Christ will be to say that there weren’t enough ‘true believers,’ and that the faithful need to convert some more of us sinners.And Harold Camping will continue to collect money from gullible and guileless people that are desperate to find an final solution to their problems.

Even though I do not believe in organized religion, and find most if not all of them to be controlling and judgmental, I do believe in hope and even an occasional prayer. I prefer to believe in my own self-determination as to how my life if going to proceed, and if I don’t like the direction it’s going, I have no one to blame but myself.

All too often we want to blame others for our mistakes and short-comings, but what do we do about the things that are out of our control? We elect our representatives and send them to Washington with the hope and understanding that they will work in our behalf and for the greater good of the people. Lately that has just not been happening. Our politicians seem to have one goal, and one goal only, and that’s to get re-elected.

We elected you, Mr. President, based on your campaign promises, and the most important of those promises was to end the wars and bring our troops home to their families. Now I realize that once you get into office that the things you promise are much easier said than done, and that we, the people, are not privy to all of the information that you have. But some steps could, and should have been taken to move us in the right direction, like closing Guantanamo Bay. Move the detainees to a new location and shut the damn place down… how hard could that be? It is, after all, what you promised you would do.

So once again Mr. President, I’m asking that you begin to take the necessary steps to fulfill your promise to the American people. Not just those of us who voted for you, but all of us, because every dollar spent on these wars is another dollar that fails to help the very people you pledged to protect and defend.

It’s time to stop the hemorrhaging of the taxpayers money on ever expanding wars, and foreign aid to countries that are not actually our allies. Bring our men and women home to their families, and keep our tax dollars at home to fix the multitude of problems we have in our own country. To do less is too break yet another promise… beginning to take even baby steps in the right direction could mean the difference in your re-election prospects.

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About Me

Having just retired after 15 years in magazine publishing, I thought I would venture into the wide world of Blogging. In my 66 years I've gained some insight about a few things. Most are silly observations about life in general. Some are serious, involving politics, and what I perceive to be right and wrong. My goal is to be somewhat of a gadfly, so if I goad you one way or the other, I've accomplished my goal.